1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card handling mechanism. The invention particularly relates to such a mechanism for use in reading a card presented to an autoteller. More particularly it relates to a card reading and handling mechanism for use in an autoteller where the card remains visible to the user at all times.
2. The Prior Art
It is well known to employ a card reader in an autoteller for reading data from a card presented thereto by a user. Information is read from the card for confirming the validity of the use of the card. Further information is read from the card to confirm that a number or other information entered into the autoteller by the user is correct. If the information so entered is correct, it confirms that the user has a right to employ the card since the information entered by the user is secret to him.
It is general in the art that the user presents his card to the autoteller by means of a slot in its case. The card is then generally taken into the autoteller by a card transport mechanism. The card is then read by such apparatus as a magnetic card reader reading stripes of recorded information on the card. If the card is correct and information read from the card agrees with information entered into the autoteller for example, via a keyboard by the user, then the card is returned by the card transport mechanism through the slot back to the user. If for any reason the autoteller considers that the card is incorrectly used, for example, because the account to which it relates is empty or because the user cannot furnish correct information via the keyboard and therefore might be a fraudulent user, the autoteller swallows the card. The transport mechanism, instead of returning the card to the user, continues to draw the card into the autoteller until the card is deposited into a bin. Cards deposited in the bin are then retained by the bank thereby withdrawing from circulation any illegally used cards. Cards retained by accident or by mistake can be returned to a valid used by the bank as can cards recovered in this manner from illegal users.
Increasing automation in the trend towards more cost-efficient banking operations, has meant an increasing reliance upon autotellers in the transactions of private accound holders with many banks. Some banks now perform all or nearly all such transactions through autotellers. Salaries are paid directly into the bank, cash sums are deposited in accounts, and money for personal use is withdrawn by the private bank account holders all via the autoteller. The autoteller card therefore assumes much more importance to the account holder than it has assumed hitherto. Loss of the autoteller card for any reason has become a more serious matter, resulting in the cutting-off of access by the account holder to banking services. It is therefore of paramount importance that the user should believe that his card is safe and will not be lost to him.
In yet more recent developments, autotellers have been employed to dispense cash on the presentation thereto of a credit card or a charge card. If such a card is lost in the machine for improper reasons the user is not only cut off from a supply of money but also loses access to other credit facilities. In such circumstances it becomes even more important that the user's card should be seen to be safe.
When the card is presented to the autoteller through the slot in its case, there can be created in the user's mind an anxiety that his card will be lost. Accordingly, card reading apparatus has been developed where the card is visible to the user at all times during its being read. As before, the card is presented to the autoteller through a slot. The slot comprises a recess where the card, even although inserted in the autoteller, can be grasped by forefinger and thumb for possible extraction from the autoteller, and where the card remains visible to the user at all times during its being read. Guides within the autoteller position the card for magnetic heads to be passed across recorded magnetic stripes thereon.
Unlike those autotellers employed a card transport mechanism, such card readers where the card remains visible during reading have certain card-positioning and operational problems. The card is inserted by the user to abut against stops within the autoteller. The precision of such positioning is not as precise as the precision of positioning resulting from the use of a card transport mechanism. The magnetic heads which are swept past the magnetic stripes on the card are therefore not so well positioned relatively to those stripes. The chances of data being misread from the card and the card being rejected are therefore higher, increasing the chance that a valid user will lose his card even although he correctly presented it to the autoteller. The card, being visible at all times to the user, and being able to be seized by the user, is therefore able to be forcibly withdrawn from the machine. Thus, if the autoteller desires to retain the card, there is a very good chance that the user can prevent the autoteller from so doing. The user can hang onto the card and get it back for later fraudulent use. This is most serious in circumstances where a forger is developing a card, which is acceptable to the autoteller, by small stages. Earlier machines which swallowed the card whole if it was invalid are very much superior in this regard.
It is therefore desirable to provide an autoteller card reading mechanism where the card, presented by a user, remains visible to the user at all times during his transaction with the autoteller and can be withdrawn from the autoteller by him at the end of the transaction but where the card cannot be withdrawn by the user should the autoteller wish to retain it for any reason. It is desirable that such a mechanism comprises means for depositing cards to be retained in a secure place away from access by the user. It is yet further desirable that means be provided in such a reader, in co-operation with these aforementioned features, for positioning the card with precision prior to its being read by a magnetic stripe card reader.